Paint Out Wednesday

Sue McCullough, David Montgomery and myself are the official Southern Colorado arm of the PAAC (Plein Air Artists of Colorado). We even have a painting schedule on the site - click the PAAC link to find out where we will be on any given Wednesday.
So yesterday we had planned a visit to the Old Dairy north of Alamosa. Great views in every direction and it looked like the wind would not be a problem. I checked the thermometer before leaving the house and thought : "40 degrees, Yay! Spring is really here."
Spoken a little too soon.
If you look in the photo here, right above the tree line you can see the Great Sand Dunes National Park and the snow on the dunes is very clear. Brrrrr. Snow on the dunes is rarely seen in the dead of winter let alone April; I knew we were in for it. The slight breeze blowing down the valley from the north was bone chilling..
In the Winter we stand in snow and paint in serious cold, but once Spring baits us with a couple of warm days - there is no going back. Of course, we were suckered into thinking it would be nice so didn't go out with all the cold weather gear. This is the Spring dilemma - you have to prepare for freezing weather and hope to get hot while you paint.

Last week we painted on a ranch by the Rio Grande, looking east toward Mount Blanca on an overcast morning. This is not a colorful time of year but we found a bit of green near the river
- and I mean a bit.